March 11th Meeting

For our first March meeting, Rachel Eldeen, our Hospitality Coordinator, gave her life story when her son and daughter were born and the struggles she went through, later to discover it was Postpartum depression. Her experience with this has proven to be a challenge that she has been able to overcome with treatment and God’s love and grace.

If you struggle or think you are struggling with this debilitating mental illness, please speak to someone or come talk to Rachel, she is a great source of encouragement and information.

On a MUCH lighter note….

Since spring has unofficially arrived, it is time to clean and organize our homes…at least we know we probably should, but then there’s children involved…but nonetheless, we still have to clean our homes at some point!

Getting our kids involved in cleaning the home is not only helpful to us moms, but it is an important step in teaching our children to be independent and responsible. Not only are they becoming more responsible with good habits for life, but they won’t be shocked later in life when they move out and a kitchen fairy doesn’t magically clean the kitchen or the bathroom fairy doesn’t clean the toilet for them. You can download and print an age appropriate chore chart HERE.

That being said, many cleaners that are sold in the grocery store are not safe cleaners for our children to be using. In order to avoid a call to Poison Control, we made an all purpose cleaner using Castile Soap, Cleaning Soda, Water and Essential Oils. Essential oils have an amazing potency that cleans and disinfects safely. For more information on the cleaning power of essential oils you can read about that HERE. Purity of oil does effect the effectiveness of your cleaner, the best are ones that are rated Certified Pure Therapuetic Grade to Food Grade. At minimum you need to make sure you purchase a food grade oil otherwise the oils can be toxic.

You can find many cleaning recipes online that incorporate all natural ingredients. A simple Google search will pull up a myriad of results. Below is the recipe for the All-Purpose Cleaner that we made in our meeting. This has been a great cleaner in our house, with good results.

Natural All-Purpose Cleaner

8 oz. Spray Bottle (glass bottles preferred due to oils being able to leach chemicals from the plastic.)

Method

In spray bottle, add all ingredients before adding water, close lid, shake until ingredients are mixed. Be sure to label your bottle and enjoy your little ones getting involved in cleaning around the house!